About this project

Thanks to FRESHFARM Markets and its FoodPrints
local foods program, we have made a huge impact on kids’ attitudes toward
growing and eating fresh, nutritious food. During the school year more
than 200 first and third grade students at Watkins Elementary go home
understanding good food can be fun, or as we like to say, “It’s COOL to
eat kale.” (click here to see a
curriculum overview)

In order to expand the hugely popular FoodPrints program and
reach more kids at Watkins Elementary School, we need a
teaching kitchen—without it, we just can’t offer more classes or reach
more students.

Right now, our cooking classes are held in a regular
classroom. We cook on portable hot plates, have no oven or dishwasher and wash
our fresh garden produce in a tiny science lab sink. Before the school year
starts in Fall 2011, we must transform our classroom space into a proper
teaching kitchen. With your help we can do it.

· Large kitchen
island with child-height counters on one side to allow students to safely work
near the cook top

Here’s more info on our school, FoodPrints and
FRESHFARM Markets

Watkins Elementary, a public school in Southeast Washington,
D.C., benefits from FoodPrints, a local foods program funded by FRESHFARM
Markets, a non-profit organization operating the largest network of
producer-only farmers markets in DC, Maryland and Virginia.

FoodPrints has made it possible, along with the help of
dedicated parents, school staff, and volunteers, to have our own garden right
on school grounds. What makes FoodPrints so unique is how it integrates our
delicious, edible garden produce into classroom lessons. Each two-hour class
offers kids a chance to learn about ecology and plant biology, but it also
instills in them an appreciation for the natural world and the joys of growing
and harvesting food.

And of course—the cooking is fun and educational! Kids
love the hands-on learning as each class ends with a cooking lesson and a
simple, shared meal that each child helped prepare.

Our accomplishment so far:

· Built a 1700
square foot classroom kitchen garden with fence and outdoor classroom seating
area

· Hired Jennifer
Mampara, a part time teacher, to conduct and manage the FoodPrints program

· Jennifer has
developed a year-long classroom curriculum that supports local and national
science standards (By the end of this summer, the FoodPrints Curriculum
will be finalized and available to the public on the FRESHFARM website at no
charge. In the meantime, click here to see a
curriculum overview.)

· Two parents
donated their architectural services to create the design plan for the kitchen

· Another parent
has pledged his firm’s services for demolition and disposal to prepare for
construction.

Our deadline is Wednesday, June 15th. Once we achieve our goal, we will announce the news to
our students and teachers before they leave for summer break. That way,
when they return to school in the fall, the kitchen will be fully operational!

In addition to making a donation, here are other ways you
can help:

· Post our
Kickstarter page link on your Facebook and My Space pages and encourage people
to make a donation.

· Post our
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to or manage and encourage people to make a donation.

· Tweet about our
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· Write a post
about our project on your blog, include our link, and encourage people to make
a donation.

· Write a post
about our project on blogs you follow, include our link, and encourage people
to make a donation.

· Begin a thread
about our project on community forums, include our link, and encourage people
to make a donation.

· Email our
message to your friends, family, colleagues, and neighbors and include the link
to our page at Kickstarter. The more people who see our Kickstarter page, the
more likely we are to meet our goal.

· Embed our
Kickstarter link in your signature from now until Wednesday, June 15th.

· Embed our
Kickstarter link on your website’s home page.

· Put this flyer
up on your church, temple, mosque, community bulletin board.

FAQ

Have a question?
If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.

Rewards

Pledge $10 or more

One wonderful Food Prints recipe, tested by our kids at school, will be emailed for you to make at home!

You selected

Pledge $20 or more

85 backers

Two wonderful Food Prints recipes, tested by our kids at school, will be emailed for you to make at home!

You selected

Pledge $50 or more

116 backers

The FoodPrints Cookbook will be sent to you!

You selected

Pledge $100 or more

61 backers

Receive a sampler bag of FoodPrints garden veggies and an herb plant for your garden!

You selected

Pledge $250 or more

18 backers

Enjoy tours of both the FoodPrints garden and the nearby H Street NE FRESHFARM Market. You will also go home with a free bag full of seasonal fresh food from the market!

You selected

Pledge $500 or more

9 backers

Enjoy a tour of FoodPrints garden and classroom. Tours will be followed by lunch prepared with seasonal foods from the FoodPrints garden and enjoyed with FoodPrints classroom teachers.

You selected

Pledge $1,000 or more

1 backer

You are invited to a seasonal dinner, prepared using FoodPrints produce and fresh, local foods from FRESHFARM Markets' farmers; created by FRESHFARM Markets co-founder Bernie Prince and FoodPrints Coordinator Jennifer Mampara.

You selected

Pledge $5,000 or more

1 backer

Receive two tickets to FRESHFARM Markets’ Farmland Feast (FRESHFARM Market's premier benefit on Monday, November 7th featuring award winning chefs and local wine) and a FRESHFARM Markets bag filled with FoodPrints recipes and two market caps.

Funding period

May 18, 2011 - Jun 15, 2011
(28 days)

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